Duggars By the Dozen - General Discussion - Part 8

[singsingsing]

Amy was born out of wedlock. Her parents only got married a few years ago, I believe. I'm not sure if she went by Duggar or by her father's name, though. Amy has been trying to launch her own music career but hasn't had much success. People tend to view her as hungry for attention and fame and riding the coattails of her uncle's family.

[calimojo]

I did not realize she was born out of wedlock. Oh my, that kind of also explains JB and M's craziness about the courtship and engagement rules of behavior.

I am not sure how old Amy is, but even if she was born 25 years ago, that is long enough in the past, where in some towns and social circles, that an unwed pregnancy would have been scandalous. And if there was a lot of drama between her mom and dad over the years, re: child support, custody, etc. it would have just fed into the evolving Duggar Belief system.

Maybe JB felt that his sister had been promiscuous and that his parents didn't control her well enough. Maybe he even blamed his parents for his sister's "shame".

I personally have always viewed Amy as having a somewhat annoying personality. LIke in person, she would wear me out, but I think she was probably brought in by TLC to help show that even though the Duggars live a restricted lifestyle, that they are not reclusive. And they do mix with "the World" and accept others. And I think she was used by TLC to again highlight the differences between a normal young adult vs. the Duggar kids.

Is she still in Nashville? I saw that episode recently and honestly, her voice wasn't bad. Her technique and style needed some work, but she didn't sound all that much worse than a lot of successful singers, especially country singers. Where I think she is naive, is that she doesn't seem to know much about music. While she may have some natural talent, does she know keys? Can she play and instrument? Can she write her own stuff? Nowadays, People like it when the singer is singing their own stuff and playing an instrument, more so than just someone with a nice voice, singing someone else's songs and being accompanied by other musicians. Being able to sing well, is not, quite frankly all that rare. Being able to write music, play music, perform and sing well, is what makes a person stand out.

[umbrellaella]

Yeah- I too think Anna is pregnant. I also agree with the commenter who said it they most likely found out very recently and it was added on to the season. When I saw the first promo I was skeptical, but changed my mind for a couple of reasons:

- The official episode title (according to the TV schedule) is "A Reveal to Remember". How "memorable" can Pris & David's gender reveal actually be? They aren't well known and are not cast members. Not many people would actually care, especially not enough to make it the season finale. I bet they somehow incorporate Anna finding out she's pregnant into the reveal, either "we have something to reveal too!", or they make it seem like they find out just after the party.

- Anna's face looks rounder and her boobs look bigger. Also there have not been many recent photos of her posted on instagram, and this could be the reason.

- Some people were saying it was odd Anna wore black to Jessa's wedding. Maybe she chose that color to look slimmer / hide the pregnancy?

These are my guesses! :)

[singsingsing]

Amy is about 27 or 28. In my opinion she acts more like she's 19 or 20. She reminds me a lot of other girls I've known who were daughters of alcoholics. I have no idea if that's the case for her, but I think she has some issues. She's had a string of relationships that she gets very excited and serious about right off the bat, only for them to implode spectacularly a few weeks/months later. As far as I know she still lives at home (which I actually think is smart, if it's working for everyone - you save a lot of money and if you're happy, why not?), but she's also never really had a real job. She babysits. She wants to be a country music star, but she doesn't really seem to have the talent or drive for it. She's approaching 30 but she's still living and acting like she's 18.

[ljohnson2006]

It wouldn't surprise me if Smuggar and Anna upstage David and Pris by announcing their own blessing. They love competition, you know.

[AndyActually]

Speaking of Amy, the November 25th episode is Amy-centric: "Amy Duggar Check-In". Something about her singing on a dinner cruise and shooting a music video.

So that'll be 3 straight weeks away from the main Duggars.

[singsingsing]

WTF? I thought next Tuesday's upcoming episode was the season finale! How long is this going to go on?

[grandmadugger]

I'm a bit confused about how the College works. I mean, I get that a lot of jobs on-campus are performed by students in exchange for education, so there's no need to pay for cleaners or serving staff or any of those unskilled jobs that take a significant chunk out of most universities' budgets. But how do they pay the lecturers and other instructors? The only way I can see this working is if the teachers aren't paid, but volunteer in exchange for room and board. Or does the College get grants or an endowment or something that that covers their salaries?

Each student applies for a pell grant and that money goes to the college, if they are eligible for it. The founder of the school also left a huge endowment for the school that later became the college. Alumni are very generous as well with endowments. On top of that because it is just a few miles outside of Branson lots of tourist stop in. They have a restaurant, hotel, gift shop, and mill that you can purchase items from as well. Then you have the people in Branson who hire the school to for various things like fresh flowers daily for the bathrooms of the theatres. The area businesses support the college in anyway they can. For about 25 years I only used the flour from there to bake with and the only reason I stopped was I married a man who can't eat wheat.

[HarleyQuinn]

Wait, is next week's all Smuggar again? None of the main family is there?

Anyone? Bueller?

[jerkit]

Amy was born out of wedlock. Her parents only got married a few years ago, I believe. I'm not sure if she went by Duggar or by her father's name, though. Amy has been trying to launch her own music career but hasn't had much success. People tend to view her as hungry for attention and fame and riding the coattails of her uncle's family.

I think she's a terrible singer. I feel horrible second hand awkwardness every time she sings.

[alba]

Each student applies for a pell grant and that money goes to the college, if they are eligible for it. The founder of the school also left a huge endowment for the school that later became the college. Alumni are very generous as well with endowments. On top of that because it is just a few miles outside of Branson lots of tourist stop in. They have a restaurant, hotel, gift shop, and mill that you can purchase items from as well. Then you have the people in Branson who hire the school to for various things like fresh flowers daily for the bathrooms of the theatres. The area businesses support the college in anyway they can. For about 25 years I only used the flour from there to bake with and the only reason I stopped was I married a man who can't eat wheat.

Ah, thanks for the info. There are no tuition fees (at least for undergrads) where I live, so I find this fascinating.

[Fluffypaws]

Maybe Anna won't be pregnant and they'll say while looking at the test "we aren't pregnant, but someone else is expecting instead" (cue Dereck and Jill). Could this be nothing but an opening to announce baby dilly?

[grandmadugger]

Maybe Anna won't be pregnant and they'll say while looking at the test "we aren't pregnant, but someone else is expecting instead" (cue Dereck and Jill). Could this be nothing but an opening to announce baby dilly?

That's what I was thinking. It makes more sense timeline wise anyway.

[eh02]

I'm suspicious about a "we're not pregnant, but Jill is" storyline. I think it's more likely that they found out recently they were pregnant and are just messing up the timeline for the unsuspecting viewers again. TLC already "announced" Jill's pregnancy so I don't think they'd mix that storyline in with a Josh and Anna episode. The time/plot skip over to post-honeymoon Jill would seem out of place this week.

If Anna already knew she was pregnant on that trip, she'd be huge by now. The most recent pics of her (like at Jessa's wedding) she looked like she'd put on a tiny bit of weight - her belly, arms and face looked a little bigger than usual. Nothing major, but I thought it looked a bit beyond just being bloated. So I would not be surprised if they're just fudging the moment where she gets a positive test. I mean, do you think the Duggars seriously have a camera in front of them every time they pee on a stick? No way. They just call up the camera crew to say they're pregnant and do a reenactment for the show's sake. She flat out said she takes pregnancy tests pretty regularly, and we obviously don't see it every time she gets a negative result.

I think it is definitely possible she could be 2-4 months pregnant now and they're announcing it right as she gets to the point where she will really begin to show. It'd be the perfect way to end the season with a triple whammy, IMO - Jill and Anna due within months of each other and a big chunk of Jessa wedding episodes, not to mention there could easily be a courtship thrown in the storyline in the near future, PLUS Jessa could very possibly (though, hopefully not) be ready to announce a pregnancy by the time Jill's baby is due.

[Jessica]

For those asking upthread, Amy is a year older than Josh.

[SassyPants]

Amy was born 9/86

Josh was born 3/88

[calimojo]

I will just bet that Michele and JB were scandalized by an illegitimate child in the family and some of their reaction to that formed some of their oddball ideas about courtship, and no touching, side hugs, etc.

ETA: do you think they acted smug and superior towards JB's sister for her shameful ways? I bet they were very kind, but in a condescending way all these years; you know that "Love the sinner not the sin" kind of way

[JillyO]

In some of the new Duggarfam Instagram pictures, Josie and Jordyn are wearing snow suits. You know, like, with pants. They're not even wearing skirts on top. What's up with that??? :pink-shock:

[singsingsing]

In some of the new Duggarfam Instagram pictures, Josie and Jordyn are wearing snow suits. You know, like, with pants. They're not even wearing skirts on top. What's up with that??? :pink-shock:

That's nothing new. The girls have worn snow suits for years. Jinger has even been pictured wearing track pants. They also wore work clothes with pants when they volunteered for the fire department (they made work skirts but I'm pretty sure that was just a scheme cooked up by TLC - they looked so embarrassed when they had to go and show the firefighters).

[SassyPants]

Earlier this year, Jill was also pictured in snow pant in a photo with Derick.

[JillyO]

I know that there's a photo where Jinger is wearing track pants, but I definitely feel like that's only out there because nobody thought people would be able to tell. There certainly has been a lot of speculation about that on here. So I don't think that's quite the same thing.

However, I didn't know the girls were allowed to wear snow suits. Never seen them in one, and I don't know the fire fighting story line. Thanks for pointing it out. I'll check it out.

[singsingsing]

I know that there's a photo where Jinger is wearing track pants, but I definitely feel like that's only out there because nobody thought people would be able to tell. There certainly has been a lot of speculation about that on here. So I don't think that's quite the same thing.

However, I didn't know the girls were allowed to wear snow suits. Never seen them in one, and I don't know the fire fighting story line. Thanks for pointing it out. I'll check it out.

I've never gotten the impression that they've tried to hide that they sometimes wear pants for utilitarian reasons. They've been pretty open with it, having shown pictures and videos of the girls in pants themselves.

[JillyO]

I've never gotten the impression that they've tried to hide that they sometimes wear pants for utilitarian reasons. They've been pretty open with it, having shown pictures and videos of the girls in pants themselves.

I didn't mean that they were trying to hide the fact that they occasionally wear pants for practical purposes. I simply had not seen it before (but I haven't been following the Duggars for very long, so it's not too much of a surprise). Though sometimes, it sure may seem that they are trying very hard not to wear pants, even when it is completely impractical... personally, horseback riding in a skirt just seems stupid to me. But I digress.

What I was actually getting at was the particular picture you were referring to. It doesn't appear that Jinger was wearing track pants for any practical reasons, and so I don't think it would do for us to see that they may just wear pants because they like wearing pants.

[sorchah]

Did Jinger once have a job??

https://picasaweb.google.com/1015321704 ... 5796326482

[singsingsing]

They volunteered in a Christian coffee shop one time.